One year ago, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper signed an executive order ratifying the overwhelming victory Amendment 64, the nation's first statewide vote to end marijuana prohibition. At that moment the personal use, possession and home-cultivation of small amounts of marijuana became legal in the Centennial State for adults 21 years of age and older.
The headlines over the last year have understandably focused on the implementation of Amendment 64's unprecedented framework to regulate and tax sales of marijuana to adults. After all, Amendment 64 doesn't simply remove criminal penalties; it creates the world's first legal market for marijuana, licensing cultivation, processing and retail outlets. Reducing criminal penalties for possessing small amounts of marijuana does not alone address the inherent harms of prohibition -- the enormous unregulated market, the unequal application of the laws, especially for people of color, and unregulated products of unknown potency and quality. Moreover, creating a state-based market for legal marijuana sales raised the prospect of a direct conflict with federal prohibition. That issue however was basically settled when the Department of Justice issued guidelines in August that gave Colorado a cautious green light to proceed without imminent threat of interference by the feds.